Skin care regiment help.

[Fannyfannakerpants]

I'm very confused as to what I should be doing and when, and wondered if anyone could help.

I have recently discovered OCM and love it but am unsure what meant to be doing after. I'm really 30s, have very sensitive combination skin which has a lot of blocked pores. I Would prefer not to use anything with too many chemicals.

So should I be using serums, face oils, moisturisers? And if so when and in what order and why? I find it all very daunting and confusing.

I am going to ignore your comment about too many chemicals as everything has chemicals and many natural products cause just as much irritation as manmade. I'll focus on what works!

So you have sensitive combination skin - personally I'd be advising you to avoid oil and use a non-foaming cleanser like Cetaphil or La Roche Posay Physiological Cleansing Gel. If you love OCM stick with it obvs I think you could do better

If you have lots of blocked pores and a tendency to spots then you need an acid toner and if your skin is sensitive I'd stick to salicylic acid only. This helps dissolve the black yuk out of your pores and prevent spots - you may get a few more spots while it starts to work. A nice mild one is Clinique Mild Exfoliating Lotion. Another option would be Paula's Choice BHA which you should be fine with as she is obsessed with not including any irritant ingredients. I found Paula's Choice 2% BHA positively life changing as all my yukky pores cleaned up and spots vanished. I've tried others and didn't find them as good or they'e been a bit harsh.

Then you only need moisturiser if you think your skin needs it - in the day time you should be using a SPF and I (combination skin) find I don't need a separate moisturiser. With combination skin you should be sticking to oil-free so something like Sunsense Daily Face. In the evening, if you want a moisturiser again something oil-free like Cetaphil or Cerave (which is fantastic for sensitive skin as it contains lots of ceramides which are really healing)

Once you've done that and your skin is happy, then you can think about adding a retinol or serum depending on what else your skin needs. But the bland cleanser/acid/SPF is the basics.